That little devil

‘Why are you so tense and quiet? It’s not like you to just watch me eat dinner without joining in or saying a word. Is something wrong?’ ‘Not quite, but I wanted to ask you something as soon as you were through with your meal. However since you’ve brought this up maybe I should just […]

‘Why are you so tense and quiet? It’s not like you to just watch me eat dinner without joining in or saying a word. Is something wrong?’

‘Not quite, but I wanted to ask you something as soon as you were through with your meal. However since you’ve brought this up maybe I should just ask now.’ I replied.

‘Yes go ahead.’ He urged.

‘If you were to notice some things getting missing in your room, would you ever suspect me of stealing them?’ I asked.

‘Of course, naturally.’ Tahir answered.

‘Naturally Tahir? What is so natural about suspecting that your wife is a thief?’ I demanded.

‘Well, look at it this way Bint. You are the only one with a spare key to my room. You make my bed, arrange my wardrobe and even when you don’t do the actual sweeping you will be there to supervise it. So in short no one has complete access to my room apart from you. Why should I not think of you first when things are being stolen from it?’ he asked.

‘But how about the years we’ve been together when I’d stolen nothing from you. Don’t they matter, aren’t they enough to make you feel something like “No, Bint will never do a thing like that?”  I insisted.

‘Well, you do have a point there but believe me it will be difficult not to suspect you sometimes.’ He answered.

‘In that case I better tell Umma to forgive her husband and just move on. I will tell her that all men are the same, we will always be there chief suspects.’ I observed.

‘Which Umma is that and what are you talking about?’ Tahir asked.

‘My neighbour Umma stepped in this morning and told me how her house-girl almost caused the break-up of her marriage through stealing from her husband’s room.’ I explained.

‘Really? You mean she’s got a new house-girl apart from the young relative she used to send to you?’ he asked.

‘No, it is that young relative of hers that I refer to as her house-girl. After all she is being paid for what she does.’ I replied.

‘But that little girl can’t be a thief, she is so young and innocent. Additionally she’s been here for a year or so, if she was a thief they would have known it. Please encourage Umma to investigate this thing well. Let her not end up blaming an innocent child.’ He advised.

‘That little devil is only innocent in looks and size but she is well-versed in some evil ways. You see, ever since she came to live withthem after Umma had her second child, the girl has been helping her around the house. She was only thirteen then but the only things Umma don’t allow her to do were cooking and cleaning the husband’s room. Otherwise she found her very useful in sweeping and doing the dishes. Just two days ago, her husband’s veryclose friend came and stayed the night in the guest room. In the morning he complained that his mobile phone had been stolen. They assured him that they had no thief in the house so he should check through his luggage but he insisted that he had done so and that he couldn’t see his phone. He asked if there was anybody else in the house apart from them but he was told that only Ladi was not a full member of the family. He asked to check her things, a demand to which Ahmed at first refused. Umma prevailed on him to please allow his visitor to do what he wanted so that they could put the whole episode behind them. And he finally agreed.

But by the time they got Ladi to open her old travelling bag and empty it, they could not believe what they saw. Lots of money, the man’s telephone, their children’s clothing, some jewellery Umma thought she had lost through carelessness, etc. In total shock, they asked Ladi to say where allthat money came from. She was forced to confess that she had been stealing them from Ahmad’s room whenever he left for work and Umma went out or fell asleep. When asked how she got access to the room key, she answered that she discovered quite by chance that the key to the guest room also opens Daddy’s room. So she was stealing the money piecemeal so no one could suspect a thing.

Unfortunately someone did notice that money was being stolen, and that was Ahmad, the only thing he didn’t know was how to ask his wife, because being the only one with a key to his room, she was his chief suspect. It took this incident to make him realise his wife was innocent. And he said so. Umma came here hurt and angry that the last two years he had been suspecting her of stealing but had no courage to confront her. She wondered what it would do to their marriage if Ladi had not been found out. I popped the question at you hoping you will sound different from her husband. Alas, you sounded no better.’ I accused.

‘Like I said suspecting a wife will be most natural in this situation because of her unfettered access to her husband’s room. But it’s truly disappointing to hear that that little girl is so criminally-minded. Maybe it is our fault that we bring in poor, deprived relations home and subject them to our relative wealth and comfort. We should learn to be more careful.’ He concluded.

‘But you do know how she came about being the house girl in Ahmad’s house, don’t you? I remember telling you when you complained that she was too young to be working and that you felt tempted to invite the CLO to come and arrest the family for child labour.  I explained to you that when Umma went home after the birth of her child she said she needed a helping hand and they should get her a young or elderly lady to help. Her aunt, who was visiting from the village quickly offered her daughter by saying that the girl was good at all house-hold chores and that the family could do with the extra income. That was how they got saddled with Ladi. Though she did prove to be hardworking and competent, many times she’ll break their utensils or spoil the children’s toys and they will turn a blind eye because she was after all a relative. Now see what she had been up to despite their tolerance. ‘I complained.

‘The whole thing is unfortunate really but what we’ve all learnt from it is that there are crafty little girls like her who can betray our trust and have the potential to ruin our marriages. I wonder what they’ve decided to do about her.’ Tahir asked.

‘Oh, they’ve sent her packing already. By the time Umma came to tell me the story, their driver was already conveying Ladi back to the village. Umma was so deeply hurt she couldn’t tolerate her for another day. I have asked my house-help agent to get her someone soonest.’ I declared.

‘Good, and I will tell Ahmed to completely change his room’s door key. Let him go for something totally different from what obtains in the rest of the house. Imagine having to learn all this from a seemingly harmless teenager.’ Tahir observed, shaking his head.

‘Yes, but the one lesson I’d like you to learn from this incident is to please confront me with any suspicion you have on anything. It will certainly break my heart to know that you are suspecting me of stealing and keeping it to yourself.’ I urged.

‘Insha Allah this I pledge, I will always confront you with a suspicion especially regarding missing items.’ He said, one hand raised mockingly in a pledge and another reassuringly on my palm.